Friday, November 28, 2014

Sprite sheet animation preview announced!

To express my thanks to all dlightful pro backers, I would like to announce a new feature for Sprite DLight's Pro version.The new feature is an animation preview for sprite sheets, which allows you to see the sprites animated with dynamic lighting.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

$7.000 goal recently smashed, 300% funded, 200 backers

Together with the pledges received via PayPal, the $7.000 goal was reached today.

I just bought a Mac Mini and this is whatSprite DLight's first Mac build looks like on it:

Many thanks to all who have supported the project so far in any way, and please keep spreading the word about it, particularly theSteam Greenlight campaign of Sprite DLightneeds as much YES votes as it can get.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Kickstarter update #4 introduces four amazing stretch goals

Stretch Goal #1: Lighting preview

To directly see how the generated maps turn out and how different settings effect them, Sprite DLight will get a lighting preview with adjustable ambient lights and a moving light source.

Stretch Goal #2: Mac version

Finally, the Mac version has become possible. If this is what you have been waiting for, please go ahead and help to make it a reality!

Stretch Goal #3: Re-Rendering

The lighting preview will be included in batch processing and you will be able to export your sprites after re-rendering them under different lighting conditions, based on the information from the generated normal map.
There will be a static lighting option to allow consistent lighting of multiple subjects in a sprite sheet and an option to save individual lighting settings.

Stretch Goal #4: Manual artistic control

If you are not perfectly satisfied with a generated normal map, you can export it in the form of lightmaps, which are four grayscale images, lit from the cardinal directions.
These shading images can be painted on in any image editing software in a way that feels natural.
After adjusting shadows and highlights, they can be merged back to a perfect normal map.

Successful funding, Paypal pledges, stretch goals & more

We made it! Sprite DLight is funded!

After reaching 100% funding within only 17 hours on day one, Sprite DLight has recently reached 100 backers and is now at 170% of the initial goal, which is absolutely unbelievable.
I would like to thank everyone who supported it again, I still can't believe it.

Paypal

For those who would like to back the project, but don't have a credit card, I have set up a Paypal pledge option.
To get the tool for the Kickstarter backer price and to get in on the beta via Paypal, just follow this link:Sprite DLight Paypal pledges
I will remove that option after the end of the Kickstarter campaign.

All pledges received via Paypal will count towards the stretch goals, which will be introduced soon.

Stretch goal planning

With the project already overfunded, it is time to provide some stretch goals.
I am collecting your ideas and feedback on my ideas to see what is desirable and practical.
If you haven't filled out my short stretch goal survey yet, now would be a good time to do so:Sprite DLight stretch goal survey

The project is live!

Thanks to all developers and artists who contributed to the project, and thanks to everybody who gave me valuable feedback on it. I am looking forward to an amazing campaign and can't wait to get in touch with future users of the tool.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Kickstarter draft is now open for feedback

With less than five days left until Sprite DLight's Kickstarter launch, I have decided to publish the preview link to show what can be expected from the tool and to use the chance to gather final feedback for last-minute adjustments.

I highly appreciate any kind of feedback on the page, the video, the rewards and all other aspects.
Feedback can be given directly on the Kickstarter page or in a comment to this post.
Launch time of the campaign is 4:00pm CST, next Tuesday, November 11.
After launch, the link will turn into the project link, so it will still be valid and can be bookmarked now.

As Kickstarter works with an all-or-nothing model, the project only gets off the ground if the funding goal is reached within the duration of the campaign.
If you plan to back Sprite DLight, it would be amazing if you could do that within the first 48 hours after launch, because it will be a race for visibility where only campaigns with a good start stay on top.
For the best chances of success, it is important to reach as much people as possible, so I would like to ask everybody to share the project in any imaginable way.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Things are getting more and more exciting and it is time to start spreading the word about the upcoming Kickstarter of Sprite DLight.
The campaign will be launched Tuesday, November 11 at 4:00pm CST.

I will post reminders and more previews regularly on Facebook and on Twitter.
To keep people aware of the project, the first day of the campaign will be critical, so it would be awesome to have some early backers right from the start.

To help you pass the time until next tuesday, here are some delightful happy little trees of mine, normal mapped by Sprite DLight, preview recorded in the Sprite Lamp shader: